Flu lesson No. 1: Wash your hands

Before heading to lunch Monday, 6-year-old Dasie Keeler stood in line to use a wall-mounted pump filled with sanitizing foam, the latest weapon at Santa Rosa's Hidden Valley School to prevent an outbreak of swine flu.

"It's for getting all the germs off your hands so that you don't get sick," Keeler explained before she dashed off to be with her friends.

Germ-killing gels, foams and sprays are spreading everywhere, their faint alcohol aroma wafting through school classrooms, supermarkets, hospitals, churches and many other public places.

Concerns about the pandemic H1N1 flu virus has suddenly elevated the most basic of hygiene routines to near the top of public health priorities. Experts say that by cleansing hands with sanitizer or, better yet, with soap and water, the chances of contracting the flu or passing germs along are significantly lessened.

"It really is that simple," said Dr. Mark Netherda, Sonoma County's deputy public health officer. "The virus doesn't live that long on surfaces, but we touch our hands to our faces multiple times a day."

Many schools are taking that message seriously because of concerns that children, along with pregnant women, are at greatest risk of suffering complications with the swine flu virus.

All 40 classrooms at Hidden Valley's two campuses are equipped with wall-mounted hand sanitizers, which are used by students before they go to morning recess and lunch.

The $1,200 cost for the sanitizers was paid for by the school's Parent-Faculty Organization, which raises money through fundraisers. The dispensers were installed at no cost by Purell, the company supplying the foam.

The cost represents one of the bigger expenditures from the parent-teacher fund, which has a total budget of about $50,000, Principal Patricia McCaffrey said. She said the expense reflects concerns parents have about swine flu.

Other measures the school is taking include wiping door knobs and counters with Lysol wipes, taking temperatures of all students sent to the office with symptoms of illness and asking students to "sneeze in their sleeve and cough in their cuff."

The scene is similar at Rincon Valley Middle School, where bottles filled with sanitizing gel grace the desks of teachers. Also, students are encouraged to keep their own bottles in their lockers.

Proper hygiene was added to the presentations that Principal Matt Marshall delivered to students before the start of the school year.

"We're just trying to amp up hygiene issues," Marshall said. "If it prevents kids from getting the flu or a cold and missing school, that's great."

Eucharist ministers in the Santa Rosa Catholic Diocese use sanitizing gel before giving communion.

In a Sept. 9 memo to priests, Bishop Daniel Walsh outlined new measures to combat the flu, including asking parishioners to refrain from holding or shaking hands at certain points of the worship service.

Parishioners aren't allowed to drink from a cup to receive communion. Holy water also has been removed from church entrances out of concern it attracts bacteria.

Public health officials say washing hands with warm soap and water for at least 20 seconds is still the gold standard when it comes to preventing illness because sanitizers do not remove dirt or other particulates.

But in a pinch, hand sanitizers do an effective job, and because of the ease of use, may actually inspire higher levels of cleanliness. That's especially true in places where access to water is not immediate.

When made with alcohol, hand sanitizers kill most every germ they come into contact with. Some notable exceptions are the Norovirus and the intestinal bacteria Clostridium difficile.

Netherda said it's best to use a sanitizer that contains at least 60 percent alcohol. Some also contain moisturizers that can build up on the skin, in which case Netherda recommends a good hand washing after the fifth or sixth use of the sanitizer.

"If your hand looks dirty, you gotta wash it," Netherda said.

You can reach Staff Writer Derek J. Moore at 521-5336 or derek.moore@

pressdemocrat.com.